• ʿAbdullāh bin Aḥmad, may Allah have mercy on them both, said: A man said to my father: "Allah created Adam in his form" - meaning [in the form of] the man - so my father said: "He lied. That is the statement of the Jahmiyya."

[Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl by al-Dhahabī (1/603)].

• Isḥāq bin Rāhawayh, may Allah have mercy on him, said regarding the aforementioned hadith of ʿAbdullāh bin ʿUmar, may God be pleased with them both:

"This is authentic (Sahih); no one abandons it except an innovator or someone of weak opinion."

[al-Sharīʿa by al-Ājurrī (697)].

Ibn Khuzayma, may Allah have mercy on him, contradicted Ahl al-Sunna regarding this hadith and resorted to its interpretation. Thus, Ahl al-Sunna considered it a slip for which he is not to be followed, and it is not permissible for anyone to emulate him in it.

• Sheikh Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Malik al-Karajī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his book which he named al-Fuṣūl fī al-Uṣūl, ʿan al-Aʾimma al-Fuḥūl, Ilzāman li-Dhawī al-Bidaʿ wa-al-Fuḍūl:

"As for the interpretation of one whom the Imams did not follow, it is unacceptable, even if that interpretation issued from a known, non-obscure Imam; such as what is attributed to Abū Bakr Muḥammad bin Khuzayma regarding the interpretation of the hadith:

'Allah created Adam in His form'; for he explains it with that interpretation, yet the scholars of hadith before him did not follow him in it, based on what we narrated from Aḥmad, may Allah Almighty have mercy on him, nor did those after him follow him..."

Until he said: "So this and similar instances of interpretation we do not accept, nor do we pay attention to them; rather, we agree with and follow what the majority agreed upon." [Quoted from the book Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya (6/404)]

I say: Among the contemporaries, al-Albānī followed him in this slip, strongly supporting the view of interpreting this hadith and refuting those who agreed with Ahl al-Sunna in returning the pronoun to the Most Merciful, Mighty and Majestic. This caused those protective of supporting the creed (Aqidah) of the Predecessors (Salaf) to dedicate independent works to this issue, refuting him and everyone who interpreted this hadith and contradicted the Predecessors (Salaf). Among them are:

1 - Sheikh Ḥammūd al-Tuwayjirī, may Allah have mercy on him, who authored a book affirming the hadith of ʿAbdullāh bin ʿUmar, may God be pleased with them both, mentioning the scholars who authenticated it, stating the belief of Ahl al-Sunna regarding it, and their condemnation of those who interpreted it away from its apparent meaning. In it, he discussed al-Albānī's statements weakening this hadith, and named it: ʿAqīdat Ahl al-Īmān fī Ḥadīth Khalq Ādam ʿalā Ṣūrat al-Raḥmān. He said in its introduction (p. 6): "The statement that the pronoun in it refers to other than Allah Almighty is the statement of